Abraham Henry Hummel

Background

Hummel was born in Boston, Massachussets, in 1850, the son of a Jewish pedler, Moses Hummel, and his wife Hannah. The family moved to New York.

Education

He attended Public School No. 15 on East Fifth Street, New York and in January 1863 became office boy to William F. Howe.

Career

With William F. Howe's connivance he was admitted to the bar in 1869, when but nineteen years old, and a few months later their partnership was in full swing. For thirty years they were the cleverest, most picturesque, most sought-after, most highly remunerated criminal lawyers in the country. Although they defended clients accused of every perpetrable crime, their specialty was theatrical cases, divorces, and homicides. One factor in their success was a complete unscrupulousness of which Hummel was chief engineer, Howe's forensic and histrionic feats being reenforced by the office work of his partner, a master at beating a case "on the facts" and at working up a case out of the scantiest and most unpromising materials.

On Howe's retirement in 1900 the firm's offices were removed to the New York Life Insurance building, and the business declined somewhat. Though even dull nostrils could detect in his activities a reek of sharp practice, bribery, perjury, and blackmail, Hummel remained practically immune, having powerful friends in the underworld, among politicians, and among men of wealth, and his brother-lawyers being disposed to tolerate him. Once, however, he was disbarred for a short period for attempting to bribe a Westchester County judge.

Early in 1904 one of his tools was indicted for perjury and offered to turn state's evidence; during the next eleven months Hummel used his every resource in an effort to spirit the man out of the country or to kill him by dissipation.

On January 27, 1905, District-Attorney W. T. Jerome secured Hummel's indictment for conspiracy and subornation of perjury in a suit to set aside the divorce of Mrs. Charles F. Dodge, who had later married Charles W. Morse. He was convicted on the conspiracy charge December 20, 1905, and sentenced to a year in the penitentiary and a fine of $500. Until actually incarcerated on May 21, 1907, in the Blackwell's Island prison, "the smartest lawyer in New York" was imperturbable; the next day a guard found him completely collapsed. Jerome produced him, still a sick man, as a witness in the trial of Harry K. Thaw; and on Mar. 19, 1908, with time off for good behavior, he was released. Two days later he sailed for England on the Lusitania. He was in reduced circumstances, but former friends and clients, hearing that he was going to write his memoirs, saved his remaining years from poverty.

Except for a trip round the world in 1911, he lived obscurely in London with his two sisters and died in the Baker Street flat in 1926. His body, attended only by a trust company's representative, was buried in Salem Field Cemetery, Queens. A supposititious son appeared to contest the will, which was rumored to dispose of an estate worth $1, 250, 000. When it was learned that the dead man left only $51, 000, the son's lawyer threw up the case, and the young man returned to his Portland, Me. , milk route.

Achievements

• Abraham H. Hummel is remembered as a rake-thin genius renowned for his ability to spot loopholes in the law.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Trial and Conviction of Jack Reynolds for the Horrible Murder of William Townsend (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Trial and Conviction of Jack Reynolds for th...)

  • Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations The Veil Lifted, and Light Thrown on Crime and its Causes,and Criminals and their Haunts. Facts and Disclosures.

Personality

"Little Abe, " conspicuous only for his large, bald head and raptorial features, was less than five feet tall, was dressed always in sober black, and saved his affability till after business hours. His huge winnings he squandered in the Tenderloin, at the race-track, and in fast society; he was an invariable first-nighter and a noted gourmet.

Connections

Father:

Moses Hummel

Mother:

Hannah Hummel

References

• Howe & Hummel; Their True and Scandalous History